Bad news for the U’s

Cambridge United’s injury woes this season show no signs of easing ahead of their home clash with Cheltenham Town this Saturday.

It has been a campaign fraught with problems for the U’s, as just as one player leaves the treatment table another is queuing at the door.

Medy Elito was ruled out last weekend with a knee injury, Josh Coulson suffered an ankle injury in the defeat to Wycombe Wanderers and then Conor Newton went off with a hamstring problem in the win at Notts County.

“When the schedule became clustered because of the (FA Cup) replay, you are thinking what could be the repercussions,” said U’s manager Shaun Derry.

“And the repercussions are we’ve lost some valuable members of our squad and that’s a disappointment for us because all I’ve seen over these past four or five games is a lot of positives.

“So to lose Medy Elito after the Dover game and for Newton to pull up with a tight hamstring on Tuesday night, it leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth because you don’t want to be losing too many influential players who have produced some really good performances.”

Elito is definitely out of the match against Cheltenham, and it will be touch and go for Newton.

“Medy will be assessed next week by an independent party and we will have to look upon what the timescale would be after he has seen the relevant people,” said Derry.

“But in terms of Conor we’re hopeful that’s not going to be too severe. He came off at the right time and didn’t go back out there to make the situation any worse.”

The ankle injury sustained by Coulson looks set to keep him on the sidelines for a prolonged period, with Derry anticipating it being “months rather than weeks”.

He said: “Josh has had a pretty bad prognosis with his injury. We’re not too sure yet, we’ll have to speak to the potential surgeon next week and it looks like Josh might need an operation.”

But there could be light at the end of the tunnel for Adam McGurk, who has been out with a thigh injury.

“There was confusion over the injury to start with because I think everybody thought it was just a normal dead leg, albeit a very sore one,” said Derry.

“But when it turns out to be a torn thigh, you realise that the timescale is going to be longer. I’m optimistic that we’re starting to turn a corner with Adam, he is optimistic as well.

“We have to make sure, like with all the injuries, they’re assessed properly and the recovery is done in the right manner as well.”